Social Justice Through Theatre: Virtual 2-Week Curriculum for High Schoolers © 2020 Megan Odell

Intro to ‘Social Justice Through Theatre’

Self Awareness of One’s Identities WHAT IF I TOLD YOU... that everybody is born with an “invisible knapsack”, and each one is filled with different objects of different size and weight? The heavier yours is, the more difficult your everyday life may be compared to someone with a lighter knapsack. This is an idea that Founder of the National SEED Project on Inclusive Curriculum, Peggy McIntosh, delved into in her 1989 article on privilege andidentities: "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” This week we’ll expand upon her ideas of the invisible knapsack and explore what our own individual knapsacks look like, what exactly they’re filled with, and how they affect our everyday lives. The latter half of the week will include using our newly gained perspectives on privilege and identity, and creating theatre projects that contribute to various social justice causes that YOU will all get to identify and choose.

Goal: For this module, you will engage in the root causes of systemic oppression, prejudice on macro and micro levels, and self-reflection on your own identities, privileges, and disadvantages. With this knowledge, you can make better-informed decisions, and take action with deeper empathy and understanding for those who are different.

Objectives:

Students will be able to define privilege
Students will discuss the different types of privilege and examples of identities
Students will reflect on their own privileges and disadvantages, and learn about others’ identities and experiences, through written reflection and group dialogue
Each student will identify a social justice cause they will contribute to artistically
Each student will either create a solo theatre project, or collaborate on a group theatre project that contributes to the social justice cause they have chosen to focus on

Alignment: This lesson aligns with the following National/Georgia standards for Social Studies, Civics, and Theatre Arts:

Students will practice organized group dialogue
Students will learn about activism through speech and art
Students will learn about US history of Human Rights, and human rights laws
Students will practice playwriting techniques, improv techniques, and applied theatre techniques

Activities: This is the list of activities you will work through this module

Post in the social cause thread of the class forum by THIS MON
*ONLY IF WORKING IN A GROUP* Submit your group members to Ms. Odell b y TUE
Complete and decorate your “invisible knapsack.” Either post a picture to the forum, or if you’d like to stay more confidential, email a picture to Ms. Odell by WED
Post in the mind map thread of the class forum by THUR
Read through this week’s Reading/Watching List by FRI
Post your visual outline for your solo or group theatre project (check class website for the proposal outline) by NEXT MON

Time: This module should take 4-5 hours of work over two weeks to complete.

Social Justice Through Theatre: Reading/Watching List

Social Justice Through Theatre Discussion (WEDNESDAY + FRIDAY)

WEDNESDAY QUESTIONS

What is your definition of “privilege”? What is your definition of an “identity”?
How does privilege relate to the knapsack activity?
What are some examples of identities that may hold privilege?
What about some identities that may hold disadvantage, or the opposite of privilege?
Are there any identities that fall in between, and could go either way?
How are your theses/ mind maps coming along? What questions can I answer?

FRIDAY QUESTIONS

What other questions do you have based off of the readings from this week?
Why is this module relevant to current events in the US?
How can you use this knowledge in everyday life? In the long term? In a project setting?
How can you best utilize your gained knowledge and dialogue on privilege and identities in your social justice theatre projects?
What artistic approaches and dialogue techniques might be more effective than others at communicating a certain idea with a large group of people?
Who is the target audience for your project? Where is your intended location- virtual, or if in-person, where? Are you trying to change your audience’s opinion completely, or just broaden their perspective to also see your point of view?
How are your visual outlines coming along? What questions can I answer?

Social Justice Through Theatre Projects

1. THE INVISIBLE KNAPSACK ACTIVITY Start by drawing a knapsack on a blank piece of paper. Inside of the knapsack, brainstorm and write down 3-4 identities that you carry with you daily. Examples of visible identities may include:

Your race
Your age
Possibly your gender identity

Add 2-3 other identities you carry with you that others may not notice just by looking at you. These could be your

gender identity
your sexuality
your socioeconomic class
how you were raised/ family set-up
any disabilities
anything that makes you you

Please note that there is no pressure to write anything down that you don’t want to, no pressure to share, and you have control of what you put inside your knapsack today!

Once you have written down a total of 6 identities, categorize each identity with a MINUS SIGN if you see it carrying privilege, and PLUS SIGN if you see it carrying a disadvantage, or the opposite of privilege.

There is no right or wrong; what could be a privilege to one person, might be a disadvantage to another person, so use your own judgement!

I’ve used a fictional character as an example of categorization:

MICKEY MOUSE: MOUSE (-) HIGH VOICE (-) PARTNER TO MINNIE(+) GLOVE COLLECTOR (+) HOUSE OWNER (+) SENIOR (-)

At the end of your categorizing, count your pluses as 1 point each and minuses as -1 point each to see your score of the weight you carry as an individual everyday. The higher your score, the less privilege and more disadvantages you might face, and the lower your score, the more privilege and less disadvantages you might face.

MICKEY MOUSE MOUSE (-1) HIGH VOICE (-1) PARTNER TO MINNIE(+1) GLOVE COLLECTOR (+1) HOUSE OWNER (+1) SENIOR (-1) -1 -1 +1 +1 +1 -1 = 0 → MICKEY MOUSE SCORED NEUTRAL, IT IS UP TO HIM DEPENDING ON THE CONTEXT OF EACH SITUATION HE IS IN HOW PRIVILEGED OR DISADVANTAGED HE FEELS.

After you have found your score, write it and circle it on your knapsack paper. Please decorate/color your knapsack as you see fit! I have included my own as an example :) Upload a copy of yours to the class forum, or if you wish to keep yours confidential, email me your copy. You have until WEDNESDAY.

2. SOCIAL JUSTICE THEATRE PROJECT Step 1: Identify a social cause that resonates with you. Really reflect upon WHY it matters, WHY i t is relevant here and now, and WHY y ou are particularly drawn to it or connected to it. Be wary of “savior syndrome” (aka incorrectly using one’s privilege as a tool to only offer short term solutions and minimal effort toward large social causes; to benefit one’s image as a “savior” rather than help the actual social cause itself.) Some examples may include (BUT AREN’T LIMITED TO):

Domestic Violence and Abuse (against children, cis-women, LGBTQ+, Trans people, in high school/ college relationships, cis-men)
Empowerment (for women+, POC, LGBTQ+, persons with disabilities, students, disenfranchised communities)
Education Reform (local, statewide, national, specific aspects of Education Reform)
Gun Control
Hunger and Homelessness
Environmental Protection, Sustainability
Government Reform, Active Citizenship
Technology Reform
Substance Addiction (i.e. Opioid Crises across the US, Drug-related Violence)
Criminal Justice System Reform (statewide, national)
Mental Health Awareness and National Support + Funding
Veteran Affairs & Support
Universal & Equal Access to Healthcare
Cultural Appropriation and Erasure of Cultures

Step 2: Post your social cause in the “Social Cause” thread of the class forum by Monday. For those of you who have chosen the same cause and don’t want to switch, I recommend working in a group. Each cause may only have 1 presentation, either solo or group. Groups must email me by T UESDAY t o let me know who you are.

Step 3: Identify a thesis-statement or goal that you would like your project to accomplish. Try to make it as specific as possible and to tackle just one aspect of your cause (aka “TO ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE” might not be your best bet!)

Step 4: Visually mind map any main ideas that could support your thesis. From there, stem tinier ideas (pieces of evidence, interviews/stories, etc.) that support the main ideas. Upload your mind map to the mindmap thread by Thursday.

Step 5: Answer the following questions as you formulate your project approach, then choose your project format.

What artistic approaches and dialogue techniques might be more effective than others at communicating a certain idea with a large group of people?
Who is the target audience for your project?
Where is your intended location- virtual, or if in-person, where?
Are you trying to change your audience’s opinion completely, or just broaden their perspective to also see your point of view? Some possible examples of possible theatre projects...
Collection of monologues
Movement/ dance piece set to spoken word
One act play
Solo performance
Stand up comedy set
Applied theatre performance/ interactive theatrical dialogue with audience
Musical theatre cabaret
Theatrical scenes about the topic + dialogue after

Step 6: Combine your project format and your mind map into one all-encompassing visual outline. It should include:

A hook (SOMETHING that draws the audience into your project- advertising? Opening scene?)
All of your main ideas fleshed out
All of the supporting ideas for each main idea
A conclusion (group reflective activity, opportunity for audience/ artists to self-reflect, artifacts for audience to keep post-performance, etc.)

Feel free to color code or decorate as you see fit! Upload to the class forum by next Monday.

Social Justice Through Theatre: Reflection

When submitting the visual outline for your social justice theatre project, please upload as a JPG or PDF file. By next Friday, upload a blog post that answers the following questions, reflecting on developing your project thus far. Consider the following:

Why did you choose to create the outline the way you did?
Why did you choose the cause that is covered?
What limitations did you face in creating it?
What did you learn about your own abilities, identities, and privilege (or lack of) in the process?

Think through these questions, and/or add any others you can think of, while creating this reflection. You will have a total of two weeks to ponder these questions; before the project creation process, during, and after. Feel free to discuss these questions in the “Reflection” section of the forum with your classmates throughout the next two weeks; your participation in the forum will not be graded, this is just for brainstorming and perspective sake!

Up Next Week...

Next week we will continue working on our social justice theatre projects. Prepare for virtual dialogues, and further development/ writing from your visual outlines.

Next Friday will be the due date for both:

Blog Post 1: Reflection on Social Justice Theatre Project Development
Rough Draft of Social Justice Theatre Project

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY...ASK QUESTIONS!!!

YES, always work towards practicing critical thinking and independent problem solving, but whenever you’re in a rut, turn to our various class resources to bounce ideas and questions off of your classmates and of me. These resources include:

Class padlet (padlet.com, an anonymous visual forum)
Zoom class forum (non-anonymous verbal forum)
Email (me or your classmates)
Group Me (communicate with just your class)
Facebook Group (communicate with just your class, upload files)
Weekly google survey (anonymous way to regularly give feedback, ask questions; weekly survey I send out to the class)
What other resources can YOU think of?

Educator Page

My original education project proposals, curriculums, and lesson plans, all published in a collaborative forum so you can share your thoughts and ideas!